Canada Comes Out on Top Against Cuba in Opener of Round Two

Sept 10, 2014 (ISN) – FIVB Men’s World Championship: Canada Comes Out on Top Against Cuba in Opener ofRound Two

Wroclaw, Poland, September 10, 2014 – Canada came out on the winning side of afive-setter (25-27, 25-18, 23-25, 25-11, 15-13) in both teams’ opening match of PoolF play at Centennial Hall in Wroclaw on Wednesday night.

The Canadians, who have now won five in a row, raised their point-total to seven,while Cuba’s slightly increased to two for the second round.

“We play Cuba pretty much every summer, so we knew what they were capable of,” saidNic Hoag, who is the son of head coach Glenn Hoag. “They are very energetic, andthey don’t really have anything to lose because they are so young and they just playhard. We weren’t surprised, but we weren’t ready to be so aggressive, especially inthe first set. … I think we focused back after the second and we got back into thegame.”

It was a see-saw battle, but the more-experienced Canadian squad finally prevailed.Canada’s coach, Glenn Hoag, fine-tuned the lineup throughout, at one point bringingin Gavin Schmitt (Saskatoon, SK) in the fourth set, which seemed to change themomentum of the match.

“I’m happy with the win, obviously,” said coach Hoag. “We didn’t play as well as Ithought we would do. We were a bit undisciplined, and made a lot of attack errors,especially in the third set. Cuba has improved a lot, and I think they are going toplay some good matches to come. For us, we now have to get some rest as soon aspossible because we have the early match against Finland tomorrow.”

Finland is a familiar opponent for Canada, having played each other this year inWorld League, and also in pre-Worlds training matches. Action gets underway 16:40local time in Poland.